forcefall
nounEtymology From Middle English *forsfal, from Old Norse forsfall (“waterfall, torrent”), equivalent to force (“waterfall”) + fall. Compare Icelandic fossfall (“waterfall, torrent”).
1
Rare A waterfall or cascading torrent.
Literal or figurative
- For down from His heights, marking the descent by "forcefalls" as a river marks declivities in its bed by cataracts, comes this supreme power; […]1924, Frederick Spencer Oliver, A Dweller on Two Planets, page 64:
- Tops of sweet birch snap strong and stiff like bones busting against bats or the sides of heads slapping concrete through the forcefall that takes a score more limbs before piercing top soil like carelessly falling arrows.1990, Gladys Goring Johnson, December, volume 33, page 82:
- Synonyms
- waterfall